


the new rival

by keithxlance



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, this turned out cheesier than i had initially planned tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-22 01:08:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12470096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keithxlance/pseuds/keithxlance
Summary: In which Lance misses Keith so much that he decides to make up a rivalry with a certain someone who's been hanging in the castle quite a lot recently.>Aka the Klance equivalent of dating someone similar to the person you like because you can’t forget about them.





	the new rival

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not totally happy with this I gotta be honest. It's kind of rushed but I couldn't get this idea out of my head?? So I just had to give it a try. The fic is 100% inspired by this tweet: https://twitter.com/crycnics/status/921121779053092864  
> Enjoy!

Days were (apparently) calm in the castle of lions. The coalition shows were finally over, under the direction of a very exuberant and demanding Coran (maybe too much but it wasn't actually his fault after all), everything was back to normal, to the usual "get to your lions and fight" routine. Only one thing was new: Matt. The person Pidge had desperately tried to find since day one, the reason why her adventure in space started in the first place. It seemed like fate wanted to balance things out, because for a new person that had come, another one had left: Keith. The former black and red paladin had joined the Blade of Marmora, claiming he didn't feel worthy enough to be the leader of Voltron.

Lance always felt like that wasn't the only reason the boy had left. The words he had said some time before walking out of the main hall's door troubled his sleep at night. 

" _I suppose that's part of it_."

What was the other part then? And why was he so willing to know? However, to distract the red lion's paladin from said thoughts were the sheer will to shine in the shows and the idea of befriending Matt. Or better: make of him his rival. With Keith gone, Lance had lost all the adrenaline that had come from teasing him. It was nice after all. Lance would have provoked him and Keith would have shot back, maybe flash a smile. Sometimes even a laugh, where you could see dimples forming near the corners of his mouth. They always made him look younger than he already was, as it should have been. Because spending months and months in space too busy thinking about an intergalactic war might make you forget, but it's important to remember that at the end of the day they are all awkward teenagers, forced to grow up faster by the circumstances. And that's exactly how his banter with Keith made him feel: like a teenager. Amongst the other reasons he wasn't ready to admit to himself yet.

Motivated by the will of getting back those emotions, Lance had made of his personal mission to provoke Matt as much as he could to indulge him in a silly, but friendly, rivarly with him.  
He did feel somewhat threatened by Pidge's brother after all. He had noticed the way Matt looked at Allura, and that didn't sit well with him. Although, he wouldn't have done absolutely nothing about it. Allura wasn't his, and if the princess somehow fancied Matt, he wouldn't have been opposed to it in the slightest. What worried him the most though was actually how many attentions, Hunk's in particular, were now diverted on Matt. He could almost perceive a certain shift since Matt had walked into the spaceship. Him, Pidge and Hunk had always been a trio ever since they all met at the Garrison, and now it felt like Matt was the new member of that trio and that they didn't need him anymore. The ghost of being the seventh wheel was haunting him again, but he could have never told them those things. He would have kept everything inside, like he was used to.

He didn't have someone in the room next to him anymore, someone's door to knock on. Sure, Shiro was back and he could have gone up to him, but there was something rather strange in the black paladin. Something that Lance was starting not to like but that he couldn't quite explain in detail.  
Perhaps getting so close to Keith had made impossible the idea of going up to someone else but him. He could always count on Hunk, his best friend in the entire world but that was different. He was his best friends of course he knew all of his secrets! And yet, everytime someone said Keith's name during the coalition shows Lance hoped in his heart that the real Keith would have showed up in front of him, ready to fight back to back as always. They were a good team, after all.

He missed Keith. A lot. Not having him around the kitchen when he woke up in the morning anymore, or seeing him fighting a bot with his sword in the training deck made him feel empty inside. Sometimes he wandered around the castle, hoping to see Keith suddenly appear somewhere, granting him with a tender or flirty smile of his. One of those that were rare to see on his face, but that had become a pleasing routine for him. 

Lance had to face reality though, and realize that those idyllic days were over. He wouldn't have seen Keith much often anymore, especially not face to face. Maybe on a screen during their conversations with Kolivan, aka when he couldn't tease him at all, or cheer him up with one of his brilliant jokes. Everytime Keith showed up on screen Lance never saw him particularly happy looking. He had his usual grumpy expression, face darkened as if he wasn't entirely sure of the choice he had made. It was in one of those moments that Lance wondered what would have happened if he had told Keith to stay instead of joining a secret organization that doesn't care about the lives of their members. 

But there was no point in crying over spilt milk and Lance really needed a distraction from all of those heavy thoughts. He had already started challenging Matt indirectly, for example inviting him to see who would have finished their plate full of food goo first. It didn't satisfy him as much as it would have been with Keith, because the former red paladin just knew how to push correctly all of his buttons. But one day, while him, Matt Pidge and Hunk were having dinner in the kitchen, he decided to be as direct as possible. 

"I want us to be rivals."

Matt's eyes widened, looking taken aback from what he had just heard. "Pardon?"

" _Here we go again_." He heard Hunk mutter beneath his breath.

"I said, I want us to be rivals." Lance continued, voice more determined.

Matt kept looking at him incredulously, as if Lance was speaking in a different language. "I don't understand? What do you mean?"

"I mean---"

"---that he misses his boyfriend and he's looking for someone to temporarily divert his attentions to. Unless he has a crush on you too, since he usually starts this kind of things with the people he likes." Pidge interrupted him, speaking as she was delivering a sentence in a court. Lance almost choked on his food goo, along with Hunk who was next to him, doing his hardest not to laugh.

"KEITH IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" He yelled, visibly red in the face.

"I never said it was Keith? I just said 'boyfriend'" Pidge said , waggling her eyebrows at him.

Lance snorted, crossing his arms. "Whatever... Just because I think the guy's cute doesn't mean he's automatically my boyfriend get it right Pidge"

At this point, Hunk couldn't manage to hold on anymore and bursted into noisy laughters. Pidge joined him right away. "Hey Lance you know I was just joking right? If I've somewhat offended you just tell m---"

"Wait....wait... All of those times where you challenged me to eat food...was it because of this?" Matt asked, silencing his sister. 

Lance lowered his gaze, looking down embarassed. "Well....I guess....so?"

"But....why?"

" _Ah_....about that...Well you see....I had this sort of...fr--ivalry with Keith and...now that he's away...I kind of...miss it?"

Matt shot Pidge a knowing look. " _I see_."

"So I was wondering" -he continued- "if we could...be rivals or something? Like do silly challenges and stuff like that? We could play videogames, see who milks Kaltenecker faster, do a Garrison quiz to see who remembers stuff from there better. You can pick." Lance added, impatiently waiting for Matt to give him answer. 

"Why me?" was the only thing he said.

"Well you're the newbie here dude! Hunk's my bff i could never rival him up. Pidge... you know what, let's not go there your sister _scares me sometimes_ (to which Pidge responded with a smirk). Allura would never accept it and Shiro...Shiro is like...the guy is too high and mighty ya feel? Plus you and I are kinda similar it'd be fun!" Lance didn't feel like his speech was convincing, nor that it made sense. 'Cause well, it really didn't. He was pratically begging a guy he'd barely got to know to be his rival because he couldn't get over another guy leaving to do his own thing. It was kinda pathetic when you looked at it that way.

Matt turned to Pidge and Hunk, visibly concerned. "Was this what him and Keith used to do in their free time or...?" 

" _Yep_." They replied in unison, both nodding.

"Either that or giving each other fond looks. You know, _one of the two_." Hunk added, to which Lance responded with a huff.

"Alright then." Matt sighed. "I guess I can be your...rival or whatever. But just for fun, no hard feelings."

"Of course, of course! No hard feelings at all! By the way if I call you mullet sometimes don't worry, it's just habits."

 

* * *

 

 

_"Come on Keith, it'd be fun. You deserve a day off."_

_"Shiro, I didn't tell anybody about my birthday because I didn't want any kind of distraction. And I doubt Kolivan would understand anyway."_

_"I'll speak to Kolivan. It's just one day. And it would be nice to make a surprise to the others. I know you didn't want others to know, but when Pidge was checking what day it was on Earth and said that we were close to that date, I couldn't help but think about how nice would it be if you were celebrating it with us instead of being alone. Keith, how much time has passed since you've celebrated a birthday with more than one person that wasn't me?"_

_"A lot. But I---"_

_"No buts. I will decide things for you this time. You will have this day off, come back and have a nice party. I'll only tell Coran about it so he can help me."_

_Keith sighed. There was no way to make his brother change his mind when he had something in mind, especially something that concerned him. "Alright. You win. See you in a few days." He smiled._

_"Great. You won't regret it, I promise."_

 

* * *

 

 

It wasn't that long since he had walked in the castle of lions, but coming back there made him feel a very refreshing sensation. It was like he had never left. He felt, and he could said with pride and an intense light in his eyes, _home_. 

Before approaching the main hall, he took few steps towards the training deck. Once he was inside, he started looking around, as if he was seeing the room for the first time in his life. He missed the adrenaline that he got from fighting the droids, and having a bayard in his hands.

As he was near the room where everybody else was, he heard Shiro's voice telling the paladins to stay all there because a special surprise was about to come in. That's when Keith knew he had to make his entrance. He got welcomed by loud yells and clapping, and the sounds of feet clacking, running towards him. Hunk was the first one to wrap his arms around his neck, followed by the others. He felt warm inside, as warm as when a mom hugs their child to protect them from anything bad in the world. That's how Keith felt in that moment. Engulfed by the sincere love of his teammates, his family.  
Once the hug was over, he looked at Lance with the corner of his eye, noticing how close to Matt he was standing and how both of them were smiling as if they knew each other for years. He tried not pay attention to the twist his stomach made when he saw that. Lance must have realized Keith had been staring, because he looked back at him, which caused Keith to turn away quickly.

Shiro broke that awkward silence moment with the posture of someone who was about to announce something very important. "You may be wondering why Keith is suddenly here and why none of you knew. Well... It's his birthday tomorrow and there was no way I would have let my little brother spend it alone in the base of a secret organization. So...tomorrow's party time!" Shiro shouted, probably a lot more enthusiast than he should have been.

"Oh my god that's awesome!"

"But we're gonna have no time for gifts! The space mall is too far!" Hunk cried out loud.

"No need for them. You guys' company is enough. That's my gift." Keith said and a loud "awww" surrounded the room.

He tried to make eye contact with Lance once again, but he noticed he was still talking to Matt and that made his blood boil. What were they even talking about that was so interesting???

"Well, I guess we'll postpone our videogame challenge. Mullet's birthday comes first." Lance said, winking at the former red paladin.

"You guys became really good friends uh?" he teased, trying to sound funny but the blank expression on his face said otherwise.

"Let's just say...we try to one up each other a lot." Lance chuckled giving Matt a look as if they had some inside joke no one else could understand.

If Keith's blood was starting to boil before, now it surely was on a high temperature. So Lance had a new rival now? And on top of that, it was Matt? A guy who was objectively nice and he couldn't even say the least bad thing about him? Well then.

"Ah... that's great, I guess." Keith said, a cold tone suddenly getting the best of him. "If you'll excuse me now I'll...go get some rest. Coran is my old room still empty?"

"Uhh...yeah it is." He replied twirling his moustache. "Lance didn't want anyone to go there anyway. He always says that will always be yours."

Keith for sure felt the temperature raising but this time on his cheeks, red as the color of his former lion. "Really?" He asked incredulously, looking at Lance for a confirmation, who was just as flustered as him. Red did really suit him after all.

"Ha...Uhm...yeah you know.... _ahha_.... I---" He babbled, scratching the back of his neck.

"Alright! Me and Lance have stuff to do and we can't really do it another time so let's go!" Hunk rambled quickly, grabbing his best friend by the arm and rushing out of the room with the the speed of light. As if he didn't want Lance to keep talking anymore. He saw that Matt was following the same direction, probably going after them, and that made him unconsciously grit his teeth. Allura giggled nervously, looking at Shiro as if to say " _It's your brother do something about this_ " and rushed out of the room as well, grabbing Pidge along with her, who was instead extremely amused by the whole situation.

Once there were just him and Keith in the room, Shiro sighed noisily, as if he had been holding that puff of air in his mouth for quite a long time. "Lance.... he missed you a lot." He said, placing one hand on his brother's shoulder.

Keith quirked an eyebrow, his eyes suddenly lighting up like a kid who sees an ice cream truck down the street of his house after a long time. " _He did_?"

"Yeah he... he took it quite worse than the others, even though he tries not to show it too much. I noticed that during our coalition shows he always looked down sadly at the mention of your name. I think he wanted you to be there with him."

"I would have probably made a fool out of myself. I can't act to save my life."

"None of us really could, trust me. Coran's direction didn't always....make sense."

Keith shot him a confused look. "Let's just say that's a story for another time. Back to Lance, you know if you were there we could have set up a romantic scene between you two." Shiro chuckled under his breath.

Keith playfully shoved Shiro away, his cheeks coloring red once again. "Oh, shut up."

"Don't deny you would have liked it."  
"Would have I got to cradle him?"

"Yeah."

"Then hell yeah I would have."

 

* * *

 

 

Keith had no idea what prompted him to spy on Lance and Matt that same day. He started observing every single moment they made in the training deck attentively, leaning on the door enough not to be seen by them. He found strange that they weren't holding any kind of weapon.

"Let's see who gets first on the other side of the deck after running around it. The winner eats the other's dessert at dinner." 

"Deal!"

Keith emitted a low growl as he watched them having fun doing the things they used to do all the time when HE was on the team. The teasing, the challenges, all it was missing was Lance having nicknames for Matt and it would have been all completed! Was he being replaced with Matt as his #1 rival or something? He could have accepted that only if it meant one thing: becoming something more important to Lance, like you know...his boyfriend. But that wasn't happening anytime soon, not when they were in the middle of a war, not when they were risking their lives on the daily, but the rivalry was a good way to get attention out of each other even if Keith wanted much more. Properly telling him that he was a very important part of the team to begin with, and that part of the reason he left was also because of him and to make sure he had his own stable place. Even if that meant not seeing him that much. Even if that meant not seeing him ever again. 

His stream of thoughts got interrupted by Pidge, who was leaned behind him without him even realizing, chuckling at the idea of seeing him so intent in watching every single movement of Lance and her brother.

"Are you wondering why he's not challenging you?" Pidge asked sarcastically, making Keith jump and shiver like someone who had just been caught doing something wrong. 

"Who me?" Keith replied, his voice going higher of a few octaves. "I was just...casually....passing through..." 

"Sure...and you've been staring at them for 10 minutes.... _casually_ right?"

Keith crossed his arms, snorting. He had no intention to fuel Pidge's provocations but she had hit the mark. Keith wanted Lance to go up to him. To talk, to catch up, to tell him that he missed him.

 

* * *

 

 

It was way after dinner when Keith heard a knock on his door. He had eaten quickly, not even once looking at Lance in the eyes, hoping that maybe he would be the one to start the conversation. Something stopped him from doing so himself, almost if he wanted to hear Lance talk to him first. He had a feeling Lance knew something he didn't, that's why Shiro was so eager to make Keith speak up first, but the dinner ended with the sound of other voices. The main topic of the dinner were the projects for the next day but Keith was feeling so down that all he did was nod at whatever suggestion was thrown at him. They could have suggested to go and take a bath in the lava of a volcano, and he would have probably said yes for how much distracted he was. It didn't help the cause that Lance was sitting right in front of him, furtively stealing a couple glances with him.

"Yes?" He asked in a feeble voice. 

The door opened to reveal non other than Lance. He had a look on his face that Keith wasn't able to decipher, as if he was determined to say something important.

"Hey man."

"Hey."  
They stayed like that for a moment, Lance frozen on the doorstep, eyes wandering everywhere except Keith's, who was sitting on the edge of his bed, until the former blue paladin broke the silence. "I guess you're might be wondering why I'm here. Well, we didn't have much time to talk before but....I really wanted to." 

"Yeah, you were too busy with Matt your new rival right?" Keith didn't mean to say that with such scorn, but jealousy was taking over the best of himself. 

"Ah, so is that the reason of your grumpiness? Not that you aren't grumpy usually, just more today I guess." He chuckled and approached Keith, sitting next to him on the bed.

Keith didn't move a muscle allowing Lance to be close to him, so close that their shoulders were almost touching. Lance was warm and it was nice having him so close. He gazed at him, having the desire of moving a few strands of hair away from his face. Seeing that Keith wasn't replying, Lance kept on going. "You know...I should be the jealous one. You knew each other."

"Who said I was jealous??"

"Oh come on, don't act like you weren't giving Matt the stinky eye since you got here. I saw you."

"Ah, so you admit you were watching me?"

"Y-- _You_!" Lance stammered. He decided to change the subject. "Listen, if you're worried about that I can assure you, you're still my number one."

"Number one what?"

"Rival of course!"

And with that, they both started laughing. They both had missed that deeply. After they stopped, their gazes met properly, something they had been avoiding the whole day.

"I'm sorry I...sort of avoided you the whole day. I shouldn't have done that. After tomorrow, who knows when we will see face to face again. I should have spent my time better instead of sulking in my room."

"I'm sorry for not coming sooner. I...I wanted to catch up, ask you how life with the blade is, tell you some stories about our shows. I wish you saw them....I wish...I wish you were there. With us. _With me_."

Keith lowered his gaze, looking at the hands on his lap. "I know. Me too."

"You could still... come back you know? Be my rival again. Something more...if you wanted to."

Keith's heart stopped for a second. If Lance was hinting at what he thought he was hinting, it only meant one thing: Lance felt the same way he did. He couldn't find words to say in that right moment, but his heart was already replying for him, beating so fast he thought it would burst out of his chest, and a voice in his head begging him to give Lance a proper answer. 

"Like what?" was the only thing that came out of his mouth, graced by a vicious smirk on his lips, almost as if he needed to tease Lance to get the complete truth out of him.

"The leader...of my heart."

Keith couldn't keep the huge smile that was already creeping on his face any longer. "That can be arranged."

"I'll repay you with the most spectacular birthday gift ever, I promise."

"I think...I think you already gave me the biggest gift you could. Besides, my birthday's tomorrow and celebrating it one day before is bad luck. I don't think we need that right now."

"No, we really don't."

"So...It's all settled?"

"Absolutely."

"I just have one request."

"Shoot, sharpshooter."

"Can we not think about anything else other than your birthday party tomorrow? No galra, no bom, no Voltron. Just me, you and our large space family. The one you always deserved."

At that point, Keith place his hand on Lance's, giving it a soft squeeze. " _Deal_." He said, like a rival. " _I love you_." He said, like a lover.


End file.
